A day ago, the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had announced their decision to contest the upcoming Assembly polls as an alliance. Kadam made the statement at an event attended by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.

NCP had earlier reacted sharply to the possibility of a merger with Congress, said a Asian Age report. "I am once again advising Mr Pawar to merge with the Congress. This is the time for a merger. Mr Pawar should stop pressure tactics and unite with our party. If they want to be part of the alliance, then let it be directly. One should not work against official candidates of the alliance partner," Kadam said.

Interestingly, Chavan reacted to the proposal saying, "Kadam has made this suggestion with good intentions."

"We welcome the MLAs and they would be given tickets for the Assembly polls. We are confident that people will vote them back. We are also confident that we will come to power for the fourth time," said the CM.

At the event, four independent MLAs including Suresh Jethlia, Shirish Choudhary, Vasantrao Patil-Chavan and Jaikumar Gore were inducted into the party.